THE PrBLIC PARK. 



157 



senator^ the slaves of business, and the votaries of 

 fashion, even royalty itself, all availing themselves of the 

 air and exercise, and scenes of gaiety and oj)portumties 

 of social intercourse and enjoyment which these mnch- 

 freqnented places afford. Nor is it to he overlooked 

 that the public parks, and even the smaller gardens in 

 squares and streets, are fitted, if skilfully distributed, to 

 lessen the condensation of our large cities, to extend their 

 crowding buildings over a wider surface, to rarefy the 

 thick black clouds of smoke which rise from them, and 

 so to increase their light, and to provide a larger supply 

 of salubrious air for all the inhabitants. In short, they 

 are, as it were, the lungs of cities and towns ; and as 

 such they are breathing-places to thousands who may 

 never wander from the streets within their actual pre- 

 cincts. 



Affording such advantages in the way of health and 

 comfort, it is rather singular that but few i3ublic parks 

 have been formed, and that most of them have been of 

 such recent introduction. Men are natm-ally gregarious 

 animals. In the old times of warfare and bloodshed 

 they kept close together for the sake of mutual defence. 

 It is remarkable how small an area some of the ancient 

 fortified towns occupied. Probably the original instinct 

 of crowding together would have continued to prevail, 

 but for the examjDle presented by those parks attached 

 to the metropolitan cities of Great Britain, to which 

 we have already alluded. Much penetration was not 

 required to perceive that such wide spaces as Hyde Park, 

 St. James's Park, Phoenix Park, Dublin, the Queen's 

 Park, Edinburgh, especially when thrown open by the 

 munificence of successive sovereigns, were boons of the 

 highest value to the adjacent commmiities. It is only 



